The Princess of the Kikiya Tribe
by John Serras
Summary: The miracle of the tribe, Cassia, may not be there for long. A tragic time has come to the tribe and only a prince from afar can help, but at a cost.


**The Princess Of The Kikiya Tribe And The Prince From Afar**

 **Chapter 1 - The Kikiya Tribe's Delima**

The Kikiya Tribe, a tribe made up of women who partially resembled cats, was lead by their great Queen Narsa. Once the woman became a certain age, her body would develop an already fertilized egg and become pregnant. The age would be at a range between 25 and 30 years old. However, there was one who never became pregnant when she was supposed to. Queen Narsa had passed 30 years, well into her 50s and many believed she would never birth a child. That is when, what they all considered, a miracle happened. After much hope had left her and she entered a state of depression, she finally had her daughter.

The women celebrated the birth of the new princess. Princess Cassia was known as the miracle princess they almost never had. Narsa cared deeply for her daughter and raised her to the best of her abilities. Unfortunately, the tribe began losing their crops and their homes to harsh weather when Cassia was only 5 years old. Storms raged on for weeks before ending and would come again only days later. The tribe was running low on food. Many of them became homeless and was forced to stay with others. Soon, nearly half the tribe was demolished. A year later, the weather stopped its freakish storms and the people were able to rebuild. It would take a long time before they could fully recover though.

Word had passed throughout the land of the tribe's existence all the way to the eastern borders of the kingdom where Prince Damone ruled from his castle. Though he was always strict and harsh, his servants and slaves always respected him and obeyed his wishes without question. When his people heard of an all-female tribe of cat-women, they laughed at the idea of it. Damone, however, became intrigued. 'A tribe of cat-women? Do they breed without males?' He became more and more curious until he couldn't stay back any longer. He had to know if it was true. If it was, he could get his own little cat-girl.

He gathered what he needed and set off to the forest he had heard the tribe was deep inside. After about a week, he arrived and entered the forest. His navigational abilities were excellent, but not in this place. Soon, he lost his way and found himself probably going in circles. Traveling through, he even wounded himself when he fell off a cliff and into a river. He had almost given in to the idea that maybe this strange tribe didn't even exist when he came across a strange noise. He heard what sounded like women talking and was excited to find the tribe lying in an enclosed plain.

He got closer to hear the women speaking about the food shortage and the storms. He realized what had happened and calmly entered openly. Many of the women became scared when they saw him and ran into the homes while others just stood in shock. Nobody there had ever even seen a man before. He yelled out to the women, "Where can I find your leader?"

One of the women walked up to him slowly and began to examine him. Although he quickly became irritated by this, he allowed it and asked, "Can you take me to your leader?"

The girl quietly nodded and replied, "Come." She lead him down to the end of the dirt road to a stone house that seemed only slightly bigger than all the others. As he entered, the cat-girl ran up to her queen and said, "Majesty, a traveler has come from outside!"

"What?" She looked past the girl to him and said, "So you came from beyond the forest. What do you want here?"

At first, he was surprised by her beauty. Unlike the others who seemed to be more cute and cuddly, she had a certain elegance that almost made her shine. Her long, brown hair flowed down nearly to her ankles and appeared as if it was groomed by experts. Her eyes matched her hair and sparkled in the candlelight. He assumed her breasts had to be at least C cups and hips perfect for birthing. The only similarity, it seemed, was that she had the same cat-like ears and tail as the others.

"I understand your people has come to a trouble of food shortage. Your homes were destroyed in powerful storms, were they not? I may be able to help."

She only stood poised and waited for him to explain.

"If you want, we can make a deal. I can bring loads of food for as long as it will take for your people to get theirs back on track. I can also bring my men over to help rebuild your homes somewhat stronger than what you seem to have here now. They would be able to withstand strong weather from now on."

A pause passed and she slowly said, "What is it you want?"

At that moment, her daughter Cassia walked in and stood next to her mother. He looked over at the cute, little cat-girl and guessed it must be this woman's daughter. He thought to himself, 'If this is so, does this make her a kind of princess of this tribe?' An idea suddenly popped into his head. 'If I had a young, cat-girl, I could raise her the way I want.'

"I want this girl for my own."

The look on her face suddenly became very upset and she asked, "What?! How dare you try to take my daughter! I will never trade her for anything! Get out!"

He expected a response like that. He turned and walked out, but stopped to look back to say, "My offer would definitely help the situation of your people. Too bad for them you won't reconsider."

Those words rang in her ears as she thought about the village. All of them spending days rebuilding homes and trying to produce crops again. The land had been wrought of its ability to grow plants and was itself recovering. How long would it take to get back on track? He walked away to the edge of the village and stopped to wait. Narsa was troubled by his words and was beginning to wonder if saving her people was worth giving away her daughter. The thought troubled her and she sat down on a mat to decide what she should do. 'What if he tricks us and just takes Cassia without helping us? Would he take care of Cassia? Would she be better off with him than staying in a half-ruined village?'

She ran out and found him standing in front of the trees that circled around the village. He was wondering how he would get out of the forest. He nearly got stuck in there trying to find the village. Would he be able to make his way back? She called out to him and he turned.

"Yes?" He knew she was considering his offer now.

"I will make this offer on one condition."

"And that is?"

"Send in your food supply and men first. The village must be rebuilt and our people taken care of first. Only then will I give to you my daughter whose name is Cassia."

A smile came across his face as he answered, "Okay, but you must hold up your end of the bargain. Once your tribe has recovered, you must hand her over. Otherwise, I will send my army over. I do not take kindly to liars."

"I understand."

"Oh, and one more thing. I nearly got lost in this forest making my way here. Can someone show me the way out so I won't get lost again?"

"Certainly. A couple of my people will escort you out."

And so, she told two women to lead him out of the forest. It took another week to return to his kingdom and another to return to the forest. This time, he came with a group of men and carts, some full of produce and others full of meat. The women were overjoyed. Some actually became quickly infatuated with the builders. Over the course of the next few months, the builders lived and worked in building new homes as well as tearing down old ones to replace them. Carts of food arrived every week while some of the men helped in growing crops. Finally, it seemed the village had become a town built of concrete and pavement. Every building was replaced and crops seemed to grow more efficiently.

Damone then arrived to see the progress. He saw his men really made a strong town for these cat-women. Kikiya was so much better now. He walked over to the queen's house and entered unexpectedly. The woman was standing there, surprised to see him again. She knew what he came to get. A feeling of shame and sadness came over her as tears began to show in her eyes.

"I have come to collect. This place is seeing much better days as your people have strong homes, roads, and farmland. My people shall return to our home, but first I would like to see the girl."

Cassia walked up and looked at him. She too knew what was to happen.

"How old, may I ask, is she?"

Narsa choked back and replied, "She is six years old."

'Six?!' He had actually assumed her to be around the age of ten. He kept that thought to himself as he said, "And her name. What was it again?"

She choked back again and said, "Cassia. Her name is Princess Cassia. I am her mother, Queen Narsa."

He only smiled, turned around, and said, "Come now. Get on the carriage I have here. You may have a few moments to say your goodbyes."

Cassia followed him to the carriage and got in. She looked back to see her mother crying. Narsa simply said, "Goodbye, my dear Cassia. I will always love you, remember you, and miss you."

Cassia didn't say anything and there were no tears in her eyes. Damone noticed this as he sat in next to her and wondered, "Why isn't she crying? Does she know she'll never come back? Is she even able to cry? What's wrong with her?'

The carriage began to leave with Narsa pouring tears behind them. That was the last time Cassia saw her mother and began a new life with Damone. Little did she know what kind of life that would be.


End file.
